"Stuck"

Written By – SMBBOOKS, SEW Crew Member

Elizabeth ground her teeth in frustration, using amazing amounts of restraint to not vocalize the variety of four-letter words flying through her head. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and let it out, hoping some of the tension would go with it. Once she felt more centered, she opened her eyes and glanced over at the man beside her.

Radek looked as frustrated as she felt. He held his data pad in a deathgrip and his fingers flew across the screen. Muttering in a continuous stream of Czech, it was as if he was doing everything he could to ignore the fact that the both of them were frozen to the ground with barely two inches separating them.

"How's it going?" Elizabeth was almost afraid to ask, considering most of the last two minutes worth of muttering she had been able to piece together were a variety of curse words, strung together by a fair amount of technical "mumbo jumbo" as John would call it.

Radek's fingers ceased their frantic scrambling and he looked at her. "Not so well. I can't get it to boot back up or make any sort of connection to the network. I have no idea what caused the surge or how to free us."

Elizabeth sighed, summoned up an encouraging smile and said earnestly, "Well, I'm sure Teyla will be back with help soon."

Zelenka nodded nervously and went back to fidgeting with his data pad.

Their morning had started out innocently enough. But, then again, most things did in the Pegasus Galaxy. She, Zelenka and Teyla had been investigating a new lab on the western pier. Zelenka brought the scientific expertise, she the knowledge of ancient and Teyla was their requisite security detail. And, given Teyla's people's history with the ancients, Elizabeth always welcomed her presence to these research projects as she valued highly her unique perspective.

Shortly after entering the lab, their radio transmitters had quit working. Elizabeth had been about two seconds away from having them exit the lab to see if they could re-establish radio contact when Radek touched a panel on the wall and all hell had broken loose.

Teyla, who had been closest to the door, had jumped backwards into the hallway just as the surge caused by the panel's activation had rocked through the lab. The force of the surge had nearly knocked Elizabeth and Zelenka to the ground. The only thing that had kept Elizabeth upright was the fact she had grabbed hold of a waist-high console to break her fall.

When the dust had settled, Elizabeth and Zelenka had found themselves stuck. Some sort of electromagnetic field caused by the power surge had caused their feet to adhere to the floor. No amount of twisting, turning or pulling could get their feet to move. Even trying to untie their boots so they could just step out of them hadn't worked, only given then a nasty shock.

Teyla, the only one not stuck, had left to go get help. That had been an hour ago - a very long, frustrating hour ago.

A particularly loud Czech curse, accompanied by a loud crash brought her out of her reverie. She glanced over at Zelenka, just in time to see his data pad sliding across the floor in pieces.

Elizabeth couldn't help but find the sight amusing, especially when she caught a glimpse of Radek, who looked like he'd just lost his best friend.

"Did it do something wrong?" she asked innocently, trying not to laugh.

"What? Oh…no….I dropped it by accident." He started to go after it and belatedly realized he was still stuck to the floor. Wind milling wildly to keep himself upright, he made a frantic grab for the console in front of them and hung on for dear life.

That did it. Despite years of training in diplomatic restraint, Elizabeth Weir couldn't hold back. Her laughter bubbled up and over, filling the room. She couldn't catch her breath; tears were starting to pour down her cheeks. A very distinct, unladylike snort escaped before she could stop it, which sent her into another fit of giggles.

Zelenka stared at her in shock. At the sound of her snort, he snapped out of it and an ornery grin spread across his face.

"Dr. Weir, did you just snort?"

Elizabeth, wiping her eyes with one hand and holding her side with the other, slowed down long enough to answer. "Sorry. I do that sometimes when I get really amused."

Zelenka started to chuckle. "Well, then, glad I could be of help."

They heard noises coming from the corridor and could tell someone was approaching. Teyla soon appeared in the doorway, careful to stay on the outside of the room.

"Dr. Weir, Dr. Zelenka, I am sorry it took me so long. Apparently the power surge took out most of the communication panels in this section. I had to walk quite a distance to find a radio signal again. I was able to make contact with Rodney. He will be here soon, along with Colonel Sheppard."

Teyla glanced from Elizabeth to Radek. Both were grinning broadly and seemed at ease with their situation. "Are you both okay?"

Elizabeth, her eyes twinkling, said "Thank you, Teyla. We're fine. We were just taking a moment to appreciate the humor in the situation."

Teyla smiled warmly and replied, "That is good. I believe Dr. McKay and Colonel Sheppard also saw the humor in the situation. They mentioned something about bringing a camera with them."